/*  
 *  Copyright 2006 Paul Jack.
 *
 *  This file is part of the Dex compiler suite. 
 *  
 *  Dex is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 *  under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
 *  Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
 *  option) any later version.
 *  
 *  Dex is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
 *  WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
 *  Public License for more details.
 *  
 *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
 *  with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
 *  51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA
 */
package dex.misc;


/**
 * Converts objects from one thing into another.
 * 
 * <p>Implementations can actually do a combination of two things:
 * transform and filter.  If the {@link #convert(Integer)} method
 * returns <code>null</code>, it indicates that the transformation
 * could not be performed.
 * 
 * <p>For instance, here's a converter that converts positive
 * Integers to Strings:
 * 
 * <pre>
 * public class PositiveToString implements Converter<Integer,String> {
 * 
 *     public String convert(Integer input) {
 *         if (input.intValue() <= 0) {
 *             return null;
 *         }
 *         return input.toString();
 *     }
 *     
 * }
 * </pre>
 *
 * @param <Original>  the type of the original objects 
 * @param <Converted>  the type of the converted objects
 * @see Conversion
 */
public interface Converter<Original,Converted> {

	
	/**
	 * Converts the given object.
	 * 
	 * @param object  the original object
	 * @return  the converted object, or null if the object should
	 *   not be converted
	 */
	Converted convert(Original object);
	
}
